Geum glaciale

Adams ex Fischer

Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 2: 187, plate 11, fig. 20. 1809.

Common names: Glacier avens
Synonyms: Novosieversia glacialis (Adams ex Fischer) F. Bolle Sieversia glacialis (Adams ex Fischer) Sprengel
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 9. Treatment on page 62. Mentioned on page 59, 60.

Plants subscapose. Stems 2–30 cm, densely pilose, hairs 2–5 mm. Leaves: basal 3–10 cm, blade pinnate-pinnatifid, leaflets/lobes 11–23, terminal leaflet slightly larger; cauline 1.4–2.5 cm, stipules adnate to leaf, indistinguishable from lobes, blade bractlike, not resembling basal, alternate, simple, 3-fid. Inflorescences 1-flowered. Pedicels densely pilose, eglandular. Flowers erect; epicalyx bractlets 6–9 mm; hypanthium green; sepals spreading-erect, 7–14 mm; petals 5–9, spreading, yellow, obovate, orbiculate, or ovate, 10–20 mm, longer than sepals, apex rounded to emarginate. Fruiting tori sessile, silky. Fruiting styles wholly persistent, not geniculate-jointed, 18–30 mm, apex not hooked, pilose except distal 1–3 mm. 2n = 28.


Phenology: Flowering early summer.
Habitat: Tundra, rocky slopes, heaths
Elevation: 0–1400 m

Distribution

V9 84-distribution-map.jpg

N.W.T., Yukon, Alaska, Asia (n Russia).

Discussion

Flowers of Geum glaciale have from five to nine petals with seven being the most common. Other species of Geum nearly always have five petals, which is standard in most rosaceous genera. The sepals of G. glaciale are usually in two whorls for a total of about ten, and the bractlets are in two to three whorls. The exact number of epicalyx bractlets and sepals is made difficult to determine by the thick covering of hairs and because individual sepals and bractlets are sometimes deeply divided into two equal lobes.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.